Magic Water for Baby Chicks

MAKING MAGIC WATER FOR BABY CHICKS IS THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO TO ENSURE NOT ONLY THEIR SURVIVAL BUT THEIR LONG TERM HEALTH.

We’ve had our share of chicken mishaps over the years. One thing we have learned the hard way over the years of raising mail order chickens is that the first hours you have them are some of the most important. This is when your flock can take the biggest loss.

When your chicks arrive they have been without food and water for a couple of days and can be stressed from travel, heat or cold. The magic formula we have learned to ensure vibrant babies is getting them the best water as quick as possible.

Now, that means making magic water. This is the same recipe used by Justin Rhodes and by the Cogg Hill Family Farm for their new chicks. They both swear by it. We have tried other water recipes through the years but this seems to work the best and has the most health benefits.

And best of all, it is made with simple ingredients just about everyone has in their kitchen. It is basically an old remedy many people have used on themselves over the centuries for good health. And, it is so simple you will wonder why you’ve never made it before. For your chicks or yourself!

Benefits of magic water for baby chicks

This magic water is an immediate immune stimulant for your baby chicks. It leads to fewer illnesses and helps with food digestion. Raw garlic and honey have many health promoting good bacteria. And apple cider vinegar, being a fermented product, adds natural pro-biotics into the mix.

These ingredients are basic superfoods when used alone. But their life and health promoting attributes make them a absolute powerhouse when combined.

Quality ingredients makes all the difference

Be sure that the ingredients you choose are truly raw and healthy. There are many apple cider vinegar imposters out there. I use the Azure Market brand organic, raw apple cider vinegar and feel it is as good as the Bragg vinegar I used to use.

Also, raw honey is not to be substituted for processed honey. Raw honey is loaded with good bacteria. Processed honey on the other hand has been heated and the good bacteria have been killed.

Four Basic Ingredients in magic water for baby chicks

1 gallon pure warm water

2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup raw honey

2 cloves raw garlic, smashed or minced

Magic water for baby chicks simple instructions

Simply fill your one gallon glass jar with warm water, add the honey, apple cider vinegar and smashed garlic and allow to steep.

Best scenario would be to make your magic water the evening before your chicks will arrive. Making it ahead allows the garlic to steep in the warm water and the whole mixture to be stronger.

Our chicks surprised us and arrived a day earlier than we expected so I wasn’t able to make it the night before. To help the garlic steep into the water quickly I used a garlic press to mince the garlic fine instead of smashing it.

We only used about half the water for the first filling of the chick waterers and we tried to get some garlic pieces into that water so it could continue to steep. The rest of the pieces continued to soak in the remaining water and it all worked out fine.

Help your chicks get their first drink

Another thing that is important is that you dip your chicks beaks into the magic water immediately upon taking them out of the box. This gets them a quick taste and orients them to where the water source is. Watch the video to see how we do this.

As you can see in my video, once their beaks are dipped they quickly go back to the water for more. This is extremely important because you can put the magic water in and they won’t drink it well unless you dip their beaks.

More new chick tips

Keep the floor of the brooder covered in 2 to 3″ of pine shavings or shredded newspapers so that they do not slip and end up with spraddle legs. This is especially important with meat birds that grow very quickly and can become quite crippled and unable to hold their own weight.

Keep a heat lamp on them so that the floor of the brooder is 90°. Reduce this by 5° each week.

Do not ever let them run out of water or food. But especially water.

Be sure that they have enough space to move away from the heat source if it is too hot.

Switch them over to fermented feed at about 1 week of age. If you want to know more about this be sure and read my post about the added benefits of Fermented Chicken Feed.

Watch your chicks. Healthy, happy chicks tend to move around quite a bit, eating and drinking. If they are too cold you will find them all huddled tightly under the light. If they are too hot they will be far away from the lamp. We keep a good quality thermometer on the floor of the brooder to keep an eye on the temperature at all times.

Magic Water for Baby Chicks Video

Safety from predators

Make sure your brooder is safe from predators. Here I have a sad tale to tell. Sadly, we lost 11 of these beautiful little butterball chicks in these pictures and on my video the very first night we had them.

Because the weather had turned cool we put them in our farm shop instead of keeping them outside. We made sure the apple bin we were using was all set up carefully and had the right chicken wire and the lid was closed.

We have several cats that show fond interest in all our new birds so we made sure to put them all out of the shop as a secondary precaution. But upon checking on them the next morning, 11 were completely missing! We couldn’t find a trace of them anywhere.

At first we couldn’t figure it out, but then we found signs that the chicks must have been pulled out through a slight gap right at the floor level. We thought we had missed a cat in the shop, but there were no cats inside. We finally determined it had to have been rats.

So, we have covered the gaps, gone on a rat hunt, and are watching them closer than before. We have learned a hard lesson and we hope we can prevent this from ever happening again. And now that I’ve told you maybe you won’t have it happen to you.

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One gallon glass jars (set of 4), and Lids (4)

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, organic

Raw Honey

Thanks for joining me here in the farmhouse today!

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